Proposed N.C. bank secures conditional FDIC approval

Organizers in western North Carolina have received conditional approval to open a bank. 

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. on June 1 approved an application for deposit insurance submitted by Highlands Banking Co. The proposed bank would be based in Highlands, a town near North Carolina’s borders with Georgia and South Carolina.

The group must raise roughly $13.8 million before opening, according to the FDIC’s order.

The proposed bank’s organizers said in an October application with the FDIC that there was a need for a new bank in the market, noting that Wells Fargo had closed two  area branches and that Bank of America, PNC Financial had completely exited. 

Robby Roberts, former president and CEO of First Newton Bank in Covington, Ga., was set to serve as CEO, according to the FDIC application.

The proposed bank's president would be Tony Potts, a former branch manager at Entegra Bank in Franklin, N.C., which was sold in 2019 to First Citizens BancShares. First Citizens sold Potts' branch to Select Bank, the application said.